For this hip-hop flashback to 1994, we take a look at a variety of rap/hip-hop charts spanning various times throughout that wonderfully rich twelve months in hip-hop history twenty two years ago. Including singles, extended plays and album releases, these charts or lists are comprised of both national and regional (with a focus on Bay Area), and based on either sales figures or radio airplay. Since the charts listed are not for all of 1994 and tallying year end figures, but rather sample charts from various weeks or months throughout that year, they tends to give a better overall (or at least alternative) view of hip-hop in the Nine Fo' compared to the usual "best of '94 hip-hop" lists of releases you find online. Interspersed with some corresponding music videos, the 1994 charts culled from several different sources. Among the 1994 charts below is one from longtime leading music industry magazine Billboard. Based on retail sales from the week ending September 17th, 1994, it is their Top 40 "Hot Rap" singles chart. That the music industry publication referred to the genre as "rap" and not "hip-hop" demonstrated how the music was still generally referred, even in '94. Another Billboard chart (albeit not strictly rap) below is their "Regional Heatseekers #1's" chart that highlighted buzz-worthy, hot selling, number one charting releases from various regions round the country. Rappin' 4-Tay was number one in the Pacific region Also below is the first top 20 of a top 40 Gavin Rap chart from now defunct, San Francisco based, radio trade industry magazine Gavin Report. and compiled by rap editor Thembisa Mshaka.There's three charts from the long gone Oakland one-stop distributor Music People (who ownedIn-A-Minute Records) whose former employee (later DogDay Records co-founder) Jo Treggiari prepared the three charts below: "Down In Our Hood" which was all local Bay Area (including a lot of carry over from '93 releases). "MINI'S" which was singles and cassingles (cassettes as it was still middle of the 90's), and "MAXI'S" which were EPs or more typically extended single versions with formats including cassette, CD, and vinyl.

The other charts included are from the (long gone but still missed) Leopold Records on Durant Ave. in Berkeley near the UC campus and Amoeba Berkeley (in fact many former Amoebites worked there). Leopold's was legendary for hip-hop fans. People would travel from all over the East Bay and beyond to shop at the amazingly well stocked store for their in-depth, exhaustive choices of both local indie and national releases. Consequently what homegrown music was popular with Bay hip-hop fans is reflected in their "Local Legends" full-length albums top 30 list from June of '94. The mid 1994 published list included a lot of 1993 carry over releases as well as the 1994 album via Sic Wid It/Jive from Celly Cel:Heat 4 Yo Azz which was their hot-pick "Bump of the Month." Note that most Bay Area albums listed on that chart were on CD and cassette only with not that many vinyl formatted. At this stage Bay Area was less vinyl oriented than hip-hop coming out back East. Other '94 charts below include the Top Ten KMEL radio airplay based one from the first week in September that note includes some R&B as well as rap/hip-hop. Another radio chart is one from my old KUSF San Francisco radio show charts from February 1994. You will notice how many names show up repeatedly on different charts. These include artists such as Fillmore, San Francisco's Rappin' 4 Tay, Queensbridge legend Nas, and San Francisco's Herm Lewis. Activist/artist Lewis curated the Tryin To Survive In The Ghetto: San Francisco Compilation which, although released in '93 was a sleeper that blew up into '94 on a local and national level. And his Bay rap compilation was not alone since, it being '94 when the West Coast era of rap (with lots of G-Funk and more) was well underway, there's numerous more Left Coast artists included in these charts such as Eazy-E, Warren G, Ice Cube, South Central Cartel, Above The Law, andCoolio. Further being it was the tail end of the genre's so-called "golden era," it consequently included such records as Gang Starr's "Dwyck." It was also the year in which Bad Boy was beginning its chart reign with former secular rapper Craig Mack's "Flava In Ya Ear" via Puff Daddy's then one year old Bad Boy Entertainment record label leading the charge as the label's first single. That video is immediately below and followed by the chart from Billboard with it as its number entry.

Hiero Day 2014 -- happening Monday, September 1st in Oakland in the blocks surrounding 95 Linden Street (Linden Street Brewery) -- may only be in its third year, but this ambitious, annual, refreshingly non-mainstream, all-ages East Bay hip-hop festival has quickly become the best Bay Area hip-hop festival of the year. Hiero Day features the extended Hieroglyphics hip-hop collective along with a slew of equally talented hip-hop friends (mostly Bay and Cali hip-hop acts) performing on three different stages throughout the day. I attended last year's Hiero Day and was so impressed with how fun and how peaceful this musically rich event was!

Hiero Day is free and all-ages with a truly indie feeling, and no nasty corporate overtones. In fact it is more like an expanded modern day continuation of the Living Legends' Unsigned & Hella Broke jams back in the day. Fittingly, Mystik Journeymen are among those on the bill at Hiero Day 2014 - a day that will attract hip-hop appreciative fans in the thousands to enjoy great music, a variety of tasty food trucks, tables selling cool hip-hop clothing, a skate contest, and (for vinyl fiends and crate diggers) the beat swap meet.

Once again this week thanks are in order to the ever knowledgeable E-Lit for taking time out to chop it up with the Amoeblog in the video above to do a run down on some of the new hip-hop releases arriving (and soon to arrive) into the Berkeley Amoeba store, and also for supplying the current Amoeba Top Five Hip-Hop Chart - also above. This new hip-hop chart includes the welcome return of Dead Prez and more of their politicized hip-hop on the duo's brand new (released Tuesday) album Information Age on Varese Sarabande. Scroll down below to see a video from Dead Prez ("No Way As The Way") as well as such others as an audio only from the new chart entrant Fashawn, and the brand new video from Chi-Ali x Livin Proof x Maffew Ragazino "Better Known As NYC" that was recorded in the studio and just got published today.

As a follow up to this week's Amoeblog on current attention-grabbing Fillmore rapper DaVincicomes this overview of the San Francisco district's rap/hip-hop past care of Amoeblog reader and longtime SF rap player Jim Browskee who has drawn up this list of Fillmore (aka Fillmoe, aka The MOE, aka Da Filthy Moe) rap acts exclusively for the Amoeblog. While, he admits, not completely inclusive of every rap act to come from this SF hood it does include all of its key players; both high-profile acts such as Rappin' 4-Tay (the Fillmore artist introduced to the world in 1988 by Too $hort on his Dangerous Crew compilation (with the song "She's Hooked") and later to be the first Fillmore rap act to international pop success with his huge 1994 hit "Players Club" (first on the indie label Rag Top Records and then picked up by Chrysalis/EMI) gain and such lesser known acts as Click Clack Gang who some heard of via their appearance on The Free Messy Marv Movement CD compilation or maybe via San Quinn when they guested on his track "Fillmoe Nigga."

In continuing the theme of his wonderful solo release from last year, Radio, Exile delivers this week's number one album at Amoeba, the brand new AM/FM, which is actually culled from that 2009 release. By reworking and remixing elements of Radio the talented Los Angeles producer born Aleksander Manfredi, who many came to know as one half of the emcee/producer duo of Blu & Exile, has crafted a whole new twenty one track album. In fact some of the tracks on AM/FM sound completely new with nary a trace of the earlier album's sound to them. And while Radio was more of an instrumental album (with the occasional vocal sample off the radio) showcasing Exile's studio chops with little other distraction, AM/FM shines more light on the mic wreckers. These include many of his compadres such as Blu (check out a track featuring Blu, "Love Line," below), Alchemist, The Grouch & Eligh, Evidence, andAloe Blacc (with whom he formed his first group, Emanon). Standout tracks include the the Shafiq Husayn remix of "It's Coming Down," "Mega Mix" featuring Fashawn, Big Tone, and ADaD, and the DJ Day remix of "In Love." In addition to AM/FM, I would recommend tracking down both Radio and Exile's 2006 album Dirty Science.